It can be relatively difficult to read the tea leaves in the CRTC’s approach to CASL enforcement, because there is little public record of those enforcement activities. This was noted by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, in its statutory review of the Act. However, what signs do exist suggest that the enforcement activities of the CRTC are accelerating.

The case discussed is the latest in a series of enforcement related activity under CASL – see e.g. New CASL Ruling: CRTC Provides Guidance on B2B Messaging and the Due Diligence Defence – and serves as an important reminder that CASL applies to all commercial electronic messages, which clearly includes email, but also text messages.

This case reminds organizations that CASL applies to any form of CEM, even text messages, used to promote products and services, and that the CRTC is actively monitoring and responding to complaints involving different types of CEMs.

According to Micheal Geist, Professor of Law Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law Faculty of Law, Common Law Section Centre for Law, Technology and Society, “the committee has asked the government for a detailed response to the report, which should be forthcoming in the spring. The government can be expected to fully support the enforcement recommendations, but retain flexibility on the recommendations for further clarification

The Canadian federal government has announced that it has suspended the coming into force of the private right of action under Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), originally scheduled to come into force on July 1, 2017.

While much has been written about the impending CASL private rights of action, less has been said about the new private right of action CASL will tack on to the Competition Act for misrepresentations in electronic messages.

Canada has the most onerous anti–spam/anti–malware law (CASL) in the world. In less than a year, July 1, 2017, it is going to become even worse. That’s when the private right of action comes into force.

Until now, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission’s CASL enforcement actions have taken the form of settlements reached in confidential negotiations between the Enforcement Branch and the company. But this decision, released on October 26, 2016, is significant because it is the first CASL enforcement decision to provide guidance on compliance. The decision contains several important lessons about regulation of commercial electronic messages in Canada before class action enforcement opens on July 1, 2017.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued an enforcement advisory directing businesses and individuals to consider the importance of record-keeping pursuant to Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). Under CASL, the onus remains on the sender of commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to demonstrate that it had the proper consents in place to send CEMs (whether implied or explicit).

The Canadian Radio–television and Telecommunications Commission has issued an Enforcement Advisory notice directed to businesses and individuals that send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) as part of their commercial activities. Notably, the sender of CEMs must have the consent of the recipient to send them a message, or else the message is considered spam.

As of July 1, 2017, individuals and organizations will be entitled to institute a “private right of action” before the courts against those that contravene certain provisions of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (“CASL”). In the event of a contravention of the message rules in CASL, a monetary penalty up to a maximum of $1,000,000 per day may be imposed. This private right of action should be taken seriously right now. From this perspective and building on previous publications, this bulletin discusses this new mechanism.